


The theory of relativity versus reality

by tinybox



Series: Rewind (fast forward) [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dubious Science, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 20:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17453933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinybox/pseuds/tinybox
Summary: Donatello tries to unravel the mysteries of time and space. Raph, trying to be a Supportive Big Brother, makes an effort to listen, even if it goes way over his head.





	The theory of relativity versus reality

So, here’s the thing about Don that you gotta understand: he’s a freakin’ genius, but he’s also a freakin’ idiot.  
I think that comes with the territory, yah know? He’s so smart about science and technology and stuff like that, yet he can’t seem to understand regular stuff, like remembering to eat and sleep and actually take care of himself without being forced into it.

Like, I’m pretty sure he hasn’t slept in two days, maybe even three, and I don’t know the last time he’s eaten anything. It’s kind of hard to tell sometimes, especially when gets into the Science! mode, and he already drinks a crap ton of coffee anyway, so it’s not like you can use the number of empty coffee cups as a way of measuring how little sleep he’s gotten. Plus, he’s really good at running on with an empty tank.

And okay, maybe Leo’s right when he says I’m not that different from Don, that I jump into battles without thinking, even while seriously injured. Personally, I think Leo doesn’t get it, but maybe Donny feels the same way about eating and sleeping while doing that science stuff. I dunno, I’ve never asked, and I don’t plan to. Somehow I get the feeling that if I did, he would manage to come up with something that would make me feel like a complete chump for asking such a dumb question. I would mess it up too, say the wrong thing and end up in an argument, and it would’ve been my fault for doing so, ‘cause I always seem to cause trouble even when I don’t mean it.

 

  
One way to pull Donny away from his work is to ask him about what he’s doing, and then he’ll start talking instead of working, and usually then he’ll fall asleep within a few minutes.

Mikey tends to do that the most, but he also can make things worse by accidentally destroying some little bit of machinery and when that happens, Don works even faster and even harder, and goes even longer without sleeping or eating.

With Master Splinter, he’ll stop for a while, but eventually the call of science or whatever is too much for him, and he'll just start up again when Splinter isn't around.

Leo’s the best at being a Science Wrangler, but he’s currently out of commission for a while, ever since he broke his right leg while attempting to do this complicating ninja move that Splinter claimed only he was capable of attempting out of all of us. Guess Master Splinter made a mistake in picking him.

Last time I saw him he was pumped full of pain meds, and staring intently as his hands. He’d looked at me, and with his serious leader voice said, “Raph, my fingers. They’re gone. Did Mikey eat them again?” I swear, I couldn’t stop laughing.

 

So with Leo down for the count, I figured I might as well try to do my good deed of the day and try to get him to get some shut-eye, at least for an hour or so. Luckily, Don was in more of a research mode, so he wasn’t workin’ on anything delicate or dangerous, meanin’ I could walk up to him without fear of having my face blown off.

“Hey genius,” I’d asked, “What’re you working on that’s so important?”

It took him a while to respond, but I’d expected that. “Raph? Can you…go away for a bit, I’m in the middle of researching, and I’ve already hit at dead end.”

“Meaning what? You’re stuck?”

“Only temporarily,” he said, already in defense mode. He gets tetchy when he's been awake for too long.

“Well, why don’t you talk it out? Maybe that will help, or somethin’. I think you said that talking to someone helps, and I’ve got nothing better to do anyway.”

That started him off almost immediately.

“The thing is Raph, I know that we were pulled forward in time, and since Cody’s already told us that there’s history of us after the year we were sent here, that must mean at some point the future me found a way to go back in time. But then I started thinking, what if we didn’t move forward in time?”

Huh?

“What’d you mean by that? Clearly this is the future, if you haven’t noticed.”

Donny looked at me like I was an idiot, which I am, but no need to rub in my face, _Donatello, master genius who knows all there is about everything and anything._

“I know that. But we don’t know how the time window malfunctioned, so theoretically, we could have been taken to an alternative universe. Or maybe this timeline was brought to us instead. What if the timelines were merged, creating a new timeline, canceling out the previous one?”

"What do you mean by that? We were brought here through Cody's weird machine."

"Yes, but I've been thinking about it, and there's something that just doesn't add up. Cody's machine should never have worked in the first place. Not the way it did. He wanted to make a television that would allow him to see us in the past. And it should have done just that. But somehow we were brought here. Wait-no that's not right. We weren't brought here. If we were brought here that would have made sense, because this is where the source of power should be. But we didn't arrive here. We arrived somewhere in the city, meaning that it's possible that Cody's machine was influenced in some way."

“Don, I think you’re overthinking this.”

“I’ve been taking energy readings, and there’s something unusual. It’s like, a piece of the puzzle that doesn’t fit, and I think that it’s us that caused that. We’ve brought something here that doesn’t belong. You know the alternative universe theory, where every decision you make creates another universe?”

“…Sure. Got it.” At this point, I was well and truly lost. I was trying, really I was. But my brain just shut down. I don’t think Don noticed, ‘cause he was really getting into it, because I had no clue what he was talkin’ about anymore. I got the first part just fine, but then he started talkin’ about us not actually being in the future, and that was where he lost me.

“…there seems to be this sort of rift, but I can’t find where it is. Logically speaking, it would be where we first arrived when we came here, but while the energy readings are a little off, it doesn’t account for what I’ve picked up. There seems to be a connection between that location and somewhere else, but it seems to be a one way network, and the energy flow seems to have…” Donny yawned into one hand, before continuing, “been cut off, so I can’t use it to effectively track down the second location.”

“So, uh, that means, what, exactly?”

He was already starting to fade, leaning with one arm against the desk. “It means that the device that brought us here is somewhere in the city. Maybe…” His voice trailed off.

“Maybe that’s how we return home. But that would mean that I wouldn’t have created the machine, which is what already happened. So unless I got credited for something I didn’t do, then maybe there’s an alternate version of me here that did create that time window that brought us here, and that version of me was brought here somehow by something I will do in the future.”

He was already leaning his head on the table, face titled to one side. “Raph, I just…there’s so many variables. Everyone’s counting on me, and I…look, I’m good with machines, you know that...but…”

“But?”

“I don’t know what to do Raph. I don’t know. But I can’t tell anyone…not even you…you’re all counting on me…you all believe in me, but…”

There was a sick feeling in my gut, like I’d gotten food poisoning, ‘cause sure he was sleep deprived, but here he was, with the weight of the whole world on his shoulders, and yet he felt like he couldn’t let us know that he needed help. It made me want to punch something, but that wouldn’t do anything for Don. I’m a fighter, not a thinker, and I know this, and I thought I was too much of an idiot to help Don with this whole time travel problem. And maybe I am. But I should’ve been there for him. We should’ve have been there for him.

We’d put him on a pedestal as the guy who always knew everythin’ but…that just isn’t true, and it scares me to think there are some things even Don can’t fix. He’s just so much of a genius next to all of us, someone who has the solution tucked underneath his belt, or a plan to figure out what to do that turns out to be right in the end.

I didn’t know what to say, but I tried anyway.

“Don…it’s going to be okay. Um…even if ya don’t figure this whole thing out, it will be alright.”

“But…”

“You can’t figure anything out if you’re just running on fumes. ‘nd let’s say we are stuck here forever. Sure, that would be…well, I guess, not the greatest,” I stopped myself before I could say it would be terrible, “but, we’d deal. We’re always dealin’ with the unknown here, and even though this is a pretty big unknown, we’ve always managed to come out okay in the end. Um…listen, Don, there ain’t anyone here that’s disappointed in you, even if you never figure out how to come back.”

I was starting to ramble, but once I’d gotten started, I couldn’t seem to stop talking.

"..You won't be..mad?"

Ouch.

"No, Don. We won't get angry at yah, no matter what. Look, you're the smartest turtle I've ever met, smarter than any human in the entire world. If anyone could figure it out, you can. But you gotta take care of yourself first. I promise, even if you became a total idiot, we'd still care about you."

"..." Sometime during my speech, Donny had passed out from exhaustion. He must have really been out of it, because he didn't wake even when I picked him up to carry him to his room. I placed him gently on the bed, even though I probably could have dropped him and he would have still slept through it, but he had already been through enough. 

 

When I was a kid, there were a few times that I hated Donny because he was so smart, and I was so stupid in comparison. I don't hate him now, but there had always been a part of me that's been jealous. I'm not jealous anymore, but I still wish I was a genius too, just for a different reason.

It's stupid, but if I were a genius, I could help Don carry the weight a bit more. Dumb, right? I'm the big brother, yet I can't do a thing about it, besides beat up the entire world for him, and hope that will be enough.  
  


 

 

 

 

 


End file.
